The Irish data authority DPC has fined Meta Platforms, Facebook’s parent company, €265 million. The company was fined because a dataset full of Facebook personal data was made available online.
The fine is the fourth that the Irish data watchdog has imposed on one of Meta’s companies. For example, the DPC imposed a fine of 405 million euros on Instagram in September, although Meta wants to appeal against it.
The total amount of fines amounts to almost 1 billion euros.
Under European data law, companies can be investigated by the privacy watchdog of the country where they have their European headquarters. Many of the big tech companies, including Apple, Google and TikTok, are based in Ireland for tax reasons.
DPC currently has a total of forty investigations into such companies.